In a new study published this week by NASA, the space agency revealed more information about the massive solar flare eruption in 2012 that had the potential to cripple all technology known to mankind.

“If it had hit, we would still be picking up the pieces,” said Daniel Baker of the University of Colorado in a NASA news blog.

In late July of 2012, the Sun produced an intense solar flare that looked to be aimed at the Earth.

“I have come away from our recent studies more convinced than ever that Earth and its inhabitants were incredibly fortunate that the 2012 eruption happened when it did,” said Baker. “If the eruption had occurred only one week earlier, Earth would have been in the line of fire.”

Solar flares cause what are known as coronary mass ejections (CMEs), which create geomagnetic storms in the atmosphere, which produce events such as solar flares as well as wreak havoc on electronic instruments. The most direct impact on Earth to date was an incident known in astronomy circles as The Carrington Event, in 1859.

In September 1859, an English astronomer, Richard Carrington, witnessed and recorded the first solar flare. In the subsequent days strong geomagnetic storms occurred. There were reports of Northern Lights sightings as far south as Cuba, and of telegraph wires sparking and spontaneously combusting. Telegraph offices caught fire as well, effectively unplugging the ‘Victorian internet’.

In 2012, the solar flare and resulting CMEs were many times stronger than the Carrington Event, and if the event happened one week earlier, Earth’s global communications and technology systems would have been severely crippled.

Although the news did report about the potential massive geomagnetic storms in 2012, there were conflicting reports coming from government agencies. NOAA and NASA issued opposite reports that the storm would be both a minor event and a major event.

If a direct hit had occurred, the National Academy of Sciences estimated a total damage upwards of $2 trillion dollars to worldwide infrastructure and technology.

Fortunately, the only satellite in the path of the 2012 CMEs was a NASA spacecraft designed to study such events, STEREO-A. The data from the satellite were analyzed in the study, and have given scientists insight on such storms.